Yozakura no Sayonara
by bleachlover20053
Summary: A story of love, a tale of farewell... taking place after the invasion in the Soul Society, Kuchiki Byakuya reminisces about his past


_original characters and concept is credited to Tite Kubo_

Yozakura no Sayonara

The midnight's breeze felt gentle and cool as it brushed off of my unsuspecting face. I sat there on the porch watching the sakura petals fall as it danced under the gentle lighting of the full moon. I sat there, with a cup of sake in my hand, untouched. At nights like tonight even the most delicious sake tasted like water. As I was placing my cup down, a single petal landed in the cup, so light, so gentle that not a single ripple was apparent on the transparent surface of the sake.

_Ah I see now_, I grinned and put down the fine china cup. _That night was just like tonight. _Not a cloud or a star in sight, all I could see was a storm of sakura petals falling one after the other. _She really loved watching them, even at her death bed she asked to see it. _Watching the night view, the memories of her came naturally like breathing.

I met her during the mid Showa era, back then I wasn't a person with a high rank but my status made it difficult for me to travel by myself. I was happy when I was assigned to inspect the Rukongai, even if it was Inuzuri. There, for the first time, I witnessed the life of those who lived in poverty. I did not know such place existed, I've heard of rumours from the servants and those of lower rank but hearing and seeing it was completely different. The vegetation in Inuzuri consisted of few shrubs and inedible weeds, the pungent smell of the air suffocated my throat, the placed was dyed in death, a hell that should never be. But that seemed to be fine with everyone around me. The rumour about those without reiatsu do not go hungry seemed to be true.

As I finished my rounds of inspection and decided to head back I noticed a faint hint of reiatsu leaking out of somewhere. I was surprised, in a place where even vegetation could not survive, how did a being with reiatsu exist? It perked my interest, my curiosity led me to looking for the mysterious reiatsu that leaked out. The amount was so small that it took me a while to trace it, but even then I couldn't pin point the location. For the first time in my life I had to do mundane manual labour but it felt surprisingly good. A few seconds turned to minutes, a few minutes turned into hours, soon I lost track of the time, but that didn't occur to me at the time, just satisfying my curiosity seemed enough to make me forget about everything else.

Just then, as I wiped the sweat that perspired on my forehead, I heard the bark of a hungry dog bellowing threw the still air. From the corner of my eyes I watched as the dog started tearing the clothing off the fallen victim._ Probably another dead citizen, _but my assumption was made too early. From the pile of ravaged body came small traces of reiatsu that I was following, the trace was faint, but still there. Whoever it was, they were still alive. Kicking off the ground with shunpo, my arm intercepted the canine's mouth from reaching the throat of its prey.

"Get lost," the instincts of the beast had seemed to kicked in, without a moment's notice the dog had fled under command, leaving me alone with the body of a half dead person. I crouched down and push the hair off the person's face, and to my surprise it was a young girl that laid in front of me. Her face was pale, and her body was frail and thin from malnutrition. From checking her vitals, her breathing was a bit shallow but normal, it wasn't too bad, she was going to live.

"Ugh," she groaned as she opened her eyes slowly, regaining her consciousness. What she saw in me that day is something I don't know even to this day but upon awaking, she immediately got up and attempted to run away, but she was far too weak and soon stumbled down. I ran over quickly, catching her as she fell over. Her eyes, as I caught her, told me she was scared of me. Like an injured animals caught in a trap, her eyes begged for forgiveness, despite there was nothing to apologize for, she begged it. Her thin body shook and the hands that I was touching were as cold as ice.

"See," I said as I took her hands into mine, "it's not cold anymore is it?" That was when she stopped shaking and finally took a good look at me for the first time. Her body relaxed and fell into my arms, and her petite face showed a tiny smiled that captivated me. She opened her little mouth as if to say something but all that came out were violent coughs and spits of blood that fell to the ground. I took my water canteen and placed it on her dried lips. First slowly, taking in small sips and when she was comfortable drinking by herself, she took the canteen from my hands and started to gulp it down, emptying it in mere seconds.

I remember her saying "Thank you," in the smallest voice possible as she handed back the empty canteen. I don't know why, maybe it was love at first sight, but I could hear that tiny voice so vividly even now, making my cold, frozen heart beat over and over again. No matter how pleased she looked, the girl was obviously hungry. Leaking out her untrained reiatsu so wastefully was a huge burden that could tire out a soldier within hours. But how long did this petite girl have to survive through this hunger? Days? Years? Decades? Centuries? As I drowned in my guilt over not appreciating little things in life like food, I remembered that one of the servants had packed me a small snack for me to eat during my inspection today. As my hand clumsily searched around the inside of my shinigami robe, I found what I was looking for. In a neatly wrapped handkerchief, were two small, handmade onigiris.

I took it out and offered them to her, gesturing that she should eat and get her strength back. Although she seemed rather shy, or possibly scared, of receiving food from a stranger, she did not refuse it. As she took her first bite, tears rolled out of her eyes, and dripped down on to the dry, lifeless dirt. Using my index finger I wiped her tears off of her moist eyes and watched as she took small bites off of the cold onigiri, savouring every bite of it. The transparent liquid that escaped her eyes and her soft cheeks were very warm, and for a first time in a while I came to realize just how warm other people could be. Just then she grabbed the other untouched onigiri and handed it to me, while her eyes were looking elsewhere due to embarrassment. That was what moved me. I tightly embraced her miniscule frame in my arms and knew that I had to take her with me no matter what. Even if the world turned against me I had to protect her.

Using a kido spell of low level, I put her to sleep and carried her slumbering body with my arms. She was light, too light compared to the weight of a woman her age should be. This saddened me all the more. If there was a just and loving god, then what was he doing to this poor soul? She needed to be taken care of, she needed to be protected. But then that question always rose to my mind every time I remember our first encounter: _Why her and not anybody else?_ _Was it out of sympathy_? No, then there were millions of others to choose from_. If it was not pity, then what was it?_ I have asked myself millions of times during the last half century and every single time the same answer came to his mind. _Because I loved her. _

Certainly the love I felt for her at first was more like a mother's love towards her child. And like a mother protecting her child, I refused to toss her out of the house despite it being against the traditions to bring a commoner into the main house. The elders and the head was surprised of my attachment towards her and that was too be expected, what was the next heir of a noble family doing, nursing a sick poor girl back to health. Despite knowing it was against the wishes and expectations of my parents and the elders, I was not about to back down, I just couldn't. Without having much choice, my parents decided to drop the subject and refrained from ever mentioning it again.

Over the course of few days, she started to grow healthier and even put on some weight. From time to time she coughed up blood but the cause of it was unknown so it was impossible to treat it. In a week's time she started to talk to me At first she only gave me her name and listened to me, but over time she started to respond back and even start talking about the weather, eventually she even started to initiate conversations. Despite my disapproval, she wanted to pay me back and was not going to accept "no" for an answer. Eventually I gave up, me, who was known to be one of the strongest ever in the family history had buckled under the will of a mere commoner girl that I found in Rukongai. So I hired her as my personal servant, from preparing my tea to the bath I was taking, she was responsible for taking care of me at home. As we spent even more time like newlyweds, I found myself grow even more attached to this fair maiden that captured my heart. Like a bee that is attracted to the sweet scent of the flower, I was attracted to her, she was everything I desired.

Then on one April night, under the crescent moon and the blossoming sakura, I proposed to her. She was silent for a few seconds, the longest seconds I ever felt in my life, and before the words could come out of her mouth tears started to roll down her cheeks. That was my second time seeing her cry, but those tears this time did not look like tears at all, they looked like diamonds as they reflected off the moon's innocent rays. Her mouth opened but no words came out, she tried to make some sort of noise but all that came out were sobs. But she was smiling, and I knew what that smile meant. I leaned over and planted my lips on top of her trembling lips… That was our first kiss.

When the news spread about our marriage and my proposal, once again a feud started between me against the whole clan. As the next head of the family, they found it despicable that a commoner was marrying into the family through means of me. My parents were against this the most. They pleaded, begged and even threatened to disown me if I went through with this. But I was not going to give up, never did I once in my life want something so badly enough to fight for it, now that I found something worth fighting for I was prepared to die defending it. The fight lasted only for a few days but my parents but my parents and I ended up not talking for a full year until they finally gave in and agreed to the marriage.

On the day of the marriage my parents did not show up. At first I thought that they were still bitter about a commoner marrying into the family. A few days later I was informed with a terrible news about my parents' death: The two had unexpectedly caught a terminal disease around the time of my proposal and had been sick ever since. Knowing they could not convince me and not wanting to die without meeting their only child once more, they reluctantly gave in to my selfish wish and approved our marriage.

On that night of the third day of our marriage, we held a funeral for my parents. For the first time in my life I wept, I who was known as the captain of the frozen heart, shed tears of guilt and sadness and through the whole night I cried, my love held me in her arms like the times I held her. The warmth of her body that time still lingers in my body and I have never forgotten that sensation once, not even for a second, since that day.

During the second year of our marriage, her sickness got even worse, often times forcing her to stay in her futon for days. I remember the day when she had a really bad fever; she was sweating endlessly and her temperature was beyond abnormal. When I was about to get the doctor, she stopped me, getting up from her futon she grabbed onto my robe and said that she wouldn't let go until I heard her story. That night as I held her hand she told me about her past. She and her infant sister died during the Meiji era and had lived in the hell hole known as Inuzuri in Rukongai ever since. Everyday she had to find food for her sister and herself, sometimes having to resorting to theft in order to make the ends meet. She repeated this for decades until she was sick of it and decided to run away, leaving her sister behind. Feeling guilty, she went back to retrieve her sister but she was no where to be found, and as she searched for little sister, she collapsed and that was when I found her.

I was more than surprised to hear this, that my gentle and loving wife had abandoned her own kin in order to live. I was surprised but at the same time I could understand her actions. She covered her shameful eyes with the wet tower that was on her forehead and wept, crying, saying that she did not deserve my love.

"If you do not accept my love then who will?" I asked her. I never got a response from her but she held my hand tight, not letting go. That night I stood by her side, holding her hands, never letting go, not even for a moment.

The next day, abusing my authority as a captain, I ordered my subordinates to locate my beloved's sister. She and I also during our spare times looked for her, but having not seen her for years, there was no clue as to how she might appear and where she could possibly be, the searches came up as a dead end. I could no longer waste my precious subordinates to look for a person that no on knows what she looks like or even knew was still alive, even if it was for her. That, however, did not stop her. She continued to look for her long lost sister while all I could do was watch and support her from behind. She looked everyday, day or night, healthy or sick, she continued her search.

Up until her last moment she held strong and continued looking but her searches came to an end on the February of our fifth year in marriage. Her health had been improving that I started to believe that she was getting better but I was too naïve. The disease had moved and infected most of her lungs and was moving towards her heart, at this rate there was not even 3 months left for her. During the first month she seemed fine except for her violent coughs but the symptoms exponentially got worse as the time went on. I would wake during some nights only to find her in cold sweat and her futon dyed crimson with blood. With no cure and no chances of her getting better, the two of us decided to make as much memories as possible until her inevitable end found its way. Enjoying our days as normal couples, we did mundane tasks such as going out for a walk, enjoying tea on the porch, eating meals together. They were nothing special and yet they made me happier than I have ever felt before, which also made letting go of her even more difficult.

Then, eventually, May had come and her symptoms got even worse. She was no longer able to get out of her room and was on anaesthetics to numb out her pain. As I watched her suffer and yet she maintained her smile just for my sake, my heart tore in two as I watched her do it. I began to curse the god I once believed and constantly screamed to the heavens: Just when I finally found the light of hope in the endless abyss that they had to take it away. Even though I was angry and frustrated, I smiled. I wanted the last thing for her to see was my smiling face before she passed on.

I will never forget her last words.

"Byakuya-sama, for these past few years that I have spent with you, I am more than grateful. Thanks to you I have felt happiness that I never imagined was possible and have experienced bliss that is worth a thousand life times. I, this selfish woman, would like to ask for one more request," she said as she breathed deeply from time to time. She held my hand but there was no strength in it, she looked at my eyes yet her eyes lacked the glitter of life it once carried. Even still she was still the most beautiful woman alive.

"What is it that you wish to ask of me?"

"I, as you have always known, have regretted abandoning my sister, I wish for you to find her and adopt her as your own sister, but please do not mention me to her for I am too shameful of a woman to be mentioned," she asked me wholeheartedly. I just couldn't bear to see her like this anymore and was on the verge of tears but I had to be strong so I bit my lips and nodded my head. She smiled and then continued, "Also lastly I wish for you to be happy even when I am gone. My final wish is that you will be as happy as you made me during this short, yet blissful marriage. I love you, my dear Byakuya."

She said her final words with a smile and tears coming out of her closed eyes. That was my fourth time seeing her cry and the last time I kissed her lips. I lifted her still body and brought it out to the porch and held her in my arms. I ran my hands threw her silky black hair, and over her soft, pale cheeks. I held her tight to my chest as my tears fell on her face and body.

"The sakura are well in bloom this year. It's like a thousand sakura blossoms are dancing together. Can you see it too? I think you would have loved it very much, no I know you would have loved it," I said as I continued to embrace her and stroke her hair. "I will keep my promises, so you don't have to worry. I loved you, and I will always love you. You were my light, now you will be the star that will guide me and your sister to our future. I swear I will find her and watch over her as you did for me. I will never forget you Hisana…"

_Hisana_…

"Byakuya nii-sama, are you not asleep yet?" I turned my head to see my adopted little sister standing there. She was still wrapped up in bandages, as was I, due to recent incident with intruder named Ichigo Kurosaki and the unexpected betrayal by the fifth squad captain, Sousuke Aizen.

"No, all these thoughts and memories have kept me awake," I replied as I leaned back against the stone walls of the house.

"Are they memories of my sister?" She asked in a timid voice.

I nodded, as I finally gulp down the cup of sake that I had poured for myself a while back. As I placed my empty cup down, the little sister picks up the bottle and pours another cup to the brim. As I lift the cup again with my right hand I ask her, "Would you like to hear about her?"

She nods in response, looking at her blushed face reminded me of Hisana. I motion her to sit next to me on my left side and she obeys without complaint. As Rukia sits down next to me, a sudden gust of wind blows, scattering the sakura blossoms everywhere. Amidst this I faintly open my eyes and I see her, the face of the one I lost a long ago, the smile that I thought would never see again. All I can do is smile back at her as she disappears with the wind.

"That wind was unexpected," the little one says as she takes her place next to me. I take my free hand start stroking her head. "Ni-Nii-sama!"

"I'm not feeling like myself today," I reply to her stuttering while continuing to stroke her silky black hair. "Just for today, allow me to do this much. Now where should I start the story from?"

"I wish to hear it from the beginning."

"The beginning, yes, I suppose that is always a good place to start from," I continue as I gulp down another cup of sake. "Well Rukia, it all started when I was chosen to inspect the Rukongai…"

_Hey, Hisana, I found her and raised her well. Don't worry I will protect her from now on…_

_I guess this is a good-bye, for now anyway…_

_This will be our farewell under the sakura…_

_Yozakura no Sayonara End_


End file.
